She started the day in 18th place after two legs and steadily climbed the leaderboard with final attempts that were eighth and seventh-best, respectively. Her final time was three minutes and 56.407 seconds down the lengthy, 16-turn design.

“The last run speaks to the speed that was there the whole time,” Farquharson said after another cold night that created record ice. “I put too much pressure on myself. For the first time, I found myself worried about what other people were thinking of my results and that’s never really happened to me before. All of a sudden, I was like, ‘What if my mom cares that I get 20th?’ Of course, she doesn’t care. I had that bad first run and my mom was like, ‘It was so fun to watch you.’ I’m like, ‘You’re right.’ What am I worried about?”

The Park City, Utah resident had her best World Cup result of the season here when she finished eighth in November. Ironically, Farquharson’s second and third heat times were also eighth-best in the field. Her singles efforts over the past two days also gained her the lead leg in Thursday’s team relay that ends the Beijing luge program.

Teammates Summer Britcher, of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania and Lake Placid, and Emily Sweeney of Lake Placid, finished 23rd and 26th, respectively.

Natalie Geisenberger, of Germany, shows the gold medal at the podium for the luge women's singles at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

“It wasn’t my best result. It wasn’t my worst result, but it was the most fun I’ve ever had racing,” Farquharson said in a statement. “It was incredible. I can’t wait for the next one. The environment made it fun. We had some fans and had people spectate and cheer for you. It was really nice.”

That was a marked contrast to the last two seasons, which were very quiet as the pandemic kept crowds at home and in front of their television sets and computers.

Britcher, in her third Games, was the victim of bad luck and timing. She broke a finger last month, the setback hampering her from the start handles. Her start ranks were no better than 20th, a far cry from normal. The injury cost Britcher about 0.1 of a second in each heat. Nevertheless, she remained grateful for the experience and learned a valuable lesson after Pyeongchang.

“The only way for me to continue in sport (after 2018) and to come back and to try to come back stronger, was to change the way that I was doing things and the way that I saw things,” Britcher said. “And that’s what I did. I’m walking away right now with my head held high. I am really joyous to be able to compete here.”

For Sweeney, the past two seasons have provided more roadblocks than pathways. But she persevered, overcoming the crash in Pyeongchang, the obstacles of these pandemic years, and made it to Beijing.

After sitting in 10th place after the first run, costly problems in the final section of the track in the second leg took her out of the running.

“My results aren’t showing it, but I’m more competitive than I’ve ever been,” Sweeney said. “I have more eyes on me from other countries than I’ve ever had. I’m actually sliding very well on the sled. People have been complimenting me from all different walks of sliding. It’s crazy, but I feel good on the sled. It’s just something’s missing, and in a sport that’s timed to the thousandth of a second, you can’t have something missing.”

Natalie Geisenberger of Germany won her third consecutive Olympic singles crown dating back to 2014. Her medal-winning run actually began with a bronze in 2010. She has also captured a pair of Olympic titles in the team relay and will get her third opportunity on Thursday.

The most experienced women’s racer in China used that to her advantage in mounting a substantial lead over the course of the first three runs. Her track record third heat essentially ended the suspense as she took a 0.33 of a second gap over teammate Anna Berreiter into the finale.

Geisenberger put her fourth run right down the middle of the Ice Dragon — the nickname for the Luge track — and clocked a four-heat aggregate time of 3:53.454. Berreiter was nearly 0.5 of a second off the pace, while Tatyana Ivanova, of the Russian Olympic Committee, took bronze, over one second from the winner.

Madeleine Egle led a 4-5-6 Austrian finish. The World Cup overall runner-up was one of many to struggle with the sliding center’s uphill sections and opened her race in 17th position. A furious rally over the next three heats left her 0.3 of a second from Ivanova.

Hannah Prock, the daughter of Austrian federation chief Markus Prock and a three-time Olympic medal winner, took fifth. Lisa Schulte, third after the first run, settled for sixth.

The third German in the field, World Cup and World Championship winner Julia Taubitz, was seventh. Her medal-winning hopes were dashed in the midst of the second run carnage that saw her crash through the finish line.

The victory by Geisenberger was in marked contrast to her experience in Yanqing three months ago, when she was isolated due to contact tracing. Three knocks on the door each day brought her nourishment, she worked out on her own over those days and wanted desperately to return home. Most importantly, the new mother was kept off the ice, losing what little time the athletes could spend preparing for the Games on a unique track. The results were almost predictable, leading to a World Cup crash in late November. But in training this week, the victor was clearly on her game, dominating most of the sessions and put the nightmare of November in the history books along with her achievements.

The action will continue today at 7:20 a.m. with the Olympic doubles race, followed by the team relay on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.